3 Ways ISIS Is Trafficking Victims

Here at Rebecca Bender Ministries (RBM) we focus on Human Trafficking prevention and after care for survivors through our Virtual Mentoring Program (VMP). While RBM has been growing and developing more sources for advocates and survivors, God has given us a heart for the women and young girls in Iraq being trafficked by the IS (Islamic State), or better known as ISIS.

Rebecca has trained outgoing volunteers for Crisis Response International (CRI) that will be deployed to Iraq to help at a safe home, where formally trafficked women and children receive services. She is also assisting in the development of that safe home. After research and prayers, we would like to share this information with all of you, so that the Holy Spirit can move through all of us to help fight the good fight.

This month of May we will focus our prayers to a city called Mosul, Iraq, a city the IS has overtaken and lives as their central hub to harbor these women and children. God has heard their cries and it is through His body that their prayers will be answered.

May 2014, after just four days of battle, government officials fled from Mosul, Iraq. Villages of Kurdish people were plummeted. Men were killed and women and children:

taken into sex slavery

forced marriages

religions persecution for nearly 3,000 Yezidi women

This month of May marks the one-year anniversary of the IS militia take-over in the city of Mosul. Located next to the Tigris River, it was once known for its beauty and abundance. Now, it is widely known for the sex slavery of women and young girls from targeted religious groups such as the Yezidis and Christians.

The stories are truly horrifying. Slave masters that justify what they are doing, stating that this act of torture and rape is religious.

After reading about what dark trauma these women and girls are going through- where only thoughts of suicide can comfort them, I hear a small whisper:

Exodus 3:7-8 (NIV)

7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery

of my people in Egypt. I have heard them

crying out because of their slave drivers,

and I am concerned about their suffering.

8 So I have come down to rescue them…”

He always hears our cries, and He always acts on our behalf.

A surge of emotions washes over me. If only I could share with them, cry with them- declare over the broken that in the name of Jesus their chains are broken!

It’s not easy to read their stories- in fact it’s tempting to look away from them.

But if Jesus never gave up on me, I will not give up on them.

This is a call for prayer. A prayer that through this darkness the light of Christ remains, that faith doesn’t just observe it acts.

His hope shines brightest in the darkest of nights.

Was it not our God who spoke the stars into place?

Was it not our God who came down to earth to die for our sins?

Is it not our God who sets us free?

The Alpha and The Omega, Protector and The Savior is who we look to in these dark times. As the bride of The Lord we must rise and defend the defenseless.

Our God is Mighty and He hears the cries of the lost and broken, He will reveal His powerful right arm to the enemy, and cover the broken with His wing.

So let us burn with a flame so hot everyone can feel His warmth.

Let us make so much noise no one can say they never knew!

Let the only sound of Mosul be the rising of our prayers to our God that listens.